History of the Münsterschwarzach Monastery
The history of the Münsterschwarzach Monastery (also the history of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey ) began as early as the 8th century. The monastery emerged from two predecessor communities that were founded in the early Middle Ages. After the transition to the Bishop of Würzburg, Münsterschwarzach was an important Benedictine media monastery in the Würzburg monastery in the Middle Ages and early modern times . With the secularization of the monastery at the beginning of the 19th century, the monastery disappeared for more than 100 years before the Benedictines of St. Ottilien repopulated it in 1913 . Today the abbey is one of the most important Benedictine monasteries in Germany. It belongs to the diocese of Würzburg in the Lower Franconian district of Kitzingen .
There were several heydays in monastic history, alternating with periods of decline. The historiography of the 18th century already indicates this change. The abbey was particularly influential at the time of Abbot Egbert von Münsterschwarzach , who anchored the reforms of Gorze in the convent in the 11th century and carried it to other monasteries. Under Abbot Johannes IV Burckhardt , Münsterschwarzach became a pillar of the Catholic reform in the diocese of Würzburg in the 16th century. The abbot of the re-establishment in 1913, Plazidus Vogel , is also of particular importance.
prehistory
Two predecessor institutions of the Münsterschwarzach monastery are closely linked to the East Franconian aristocratic family of the Mattonen : the Münsterschwarzach women's monastery and the Megingaudshausen monastery, which was only mentioned in a document in 816. The Münsterschwarzach monastery was created when the Megingaudshausen convent moved to the vacant women's convent. With the choice of its coat of arms with the two crossed abbot's bars, the convent referred to the two monasteries. Older traditions, such as the veneration of the founders of Megingaudshausen, flowed into the abbey liturgy in the Middle Ages and early modern times. All abbots of the two monasteries were included in the list of abbots in Münsterschwarzach.
→ see also: Frauenkloster Münsterschwarzach
→ see also: Monastery Megingaudshausen
→ see also: List of Abbesses of Münsterschwarzach
Early middle ages
Move and start over
There are several theses in research about the relocation of the monks to the Main. While the older literature was of the opinion that the founder Megingaud only died in the Münsterschwarzach Abbey, more recent research indicates that the monks took the remains of the founding couple and the founding deed from 816 with them to Schwarzach. The self-confident members of the convent only agreed to move their monastery because Bishop Arno von Würzburg himself belonged to the Mattons.
The monks left Megingaudshausen under Abbot Hartwig or his successor Ebbo . The stone hall church of the convent was rebuilt for the new liturgical requirements. Probably the first thing to do was to replace the campanile with a transept. The bells were hung in the newly built bell tower above the crossing . In total, the church offered space for around 20 monks. → see also: Carolingian monastery church Münsterschwarzach
A fire probably broke out under Ebbo, as indicated by the molten remains of bells unearthed during excavations. Possibly the passing through Hungarian equestrian associations devastated the new monastery. Conflicts also arose between the aspiring bishops of Würzburg and the members of the Mattone family, who still had claims to the abbey. After the death of Abbot Ebbo, the monastery came into the possession of Dracholf, who was counted among the Mattons.
The time of the commendate abbots
Dracholf regarded the abbey as his personal property, but did not stay within the convent as a so-called Commendatarabbot . Instead, he rose to become Bishop of Freising . In contrast to other commendatar abbots , Dracholf did not plunder his possessions, but even supplemented the abbey's possessions with two waves of donations 912 and 918. In addition, he first obtained the royal rights to the last two remaining properties of the Megingaudshausen monastery, " Hetzelheim " and " Hittenheim ”, and exchanged these for places in the vicinity, which he gave to the monks of Münsterschwarzach.
On April 21, 918, King Konrad I confirmed Dracholf's donations to Schwarzach. The important document lists some places that were mentioned here for the first time. So “ Gerlachshausen ” and “Weiuelt” ( Wipfeld ) arrived in their entirety , “Stockheim” ( Mainstockheim or Mönchstockheim ), “Lankheim” ( Klein- or Großlangheim ), “Feurbach” ( Feuerbach ), “Castimallesdorf et Selinsdorff” ( Seligenstadt ) in parts to the monastery. In addition, the monks received two vineyards in "Nordheim" (am Main). The places named "Tullstatt" (Düllstadt), "Stadelon" (Stadelschwarzach) and "Wisenheida" (Wiesentheid) were also used for the livelihood and clothing of the monks.
With these extensive estates, the young monastery was a coveted property and was subsequently drawn into conflicts between the Mattones and the bishops of Würzburg , who both claimed sovereignty over Münsterschwarzach. After the death of abbot Dracholf in 926, it took almost seventy years for the abbey to be mentioned again in the sources. Now the bishops of Freising came on the scene, who also substantiated their claims to Münsterschwarzach.
Research suggests that in the meantime several, now unknown abbots from the nobility ran the monastery. They were lay people and enriched themselves with their property without taking the monks into consideration. During this time, the members of the convention tended towards the Mattons and rejected the influence of the Würzburg bishops. During these decades the buildings of the monastery were largely destroyed. Medieval chronicles even assume that Münsterschwarzach was completely deserted for a while.
Blossoming again under Bishop Heinrich I.
In the meantime the Ottonians ruled, who further promoted the bishops in the empire in order to build up an imperial episcopate loyal to them . This enabled the Würzburg diocesans to expand their influence over Münsterschwarzach and ultimately won the struggle for the abbey. The new beginning is marked by a document dated December 12, 993, in which Emperor Otto III. Bishop Bernward von Würzburg granted his property over the abbey.
Würzburg also tried to maintain the monastery under the following bishops. In 999 the newly elected Bishop Heinrich I had his sovereignty over Münsterschwarzach confirmed again. He repeated this process in 1003, when Henry II was elected king. In the document of February 9, 1003, however, two monasteries, "abbatia" and "monasterium", are mentioned. After the older literature assumed that the women's convent would continue to exist alongside the men's convent, today it is assumed that there is only a linguistic differentiation. The royal chancellery had to include both common names for the monastery in the document.
The revival of monastic life in Münsterschwarzach is associated with Bishop Heinrich I. The diocesan came into contact with the so-called Old Gorz reforms early on because his brother went to school in the Lorraine monastery. The reforms focused on monastic asceticism , prayer and, in particular, the assignment to the local diocese. That is why Heinrich asked the Regensburg abbot Ramwold , who was already running his monastery according to the new rules, for several monks to send them to Münsterschwarzach.
High Middle Ages
Abbots of the Old Gorz Reform
From the Regensburg Abbey of St. Emmeram , Alapold came to the Main in 1001 and 1006 with 13 followers and began to introduce the way of life of his home monastery in Münsterschwarzach as well. In particular, Alapold promoted the exchange with other like-minded monasteries and, for example, concluded a death and prayer fraternity with St. Emmeram . The abbot did not work alone, however, but received funding from the imperial ruling house and the bishop of Würzburg.
At the insistence of his wife Kunigunde , Emperor Heinrich II left several manors to the monastery, thereby promoting the convent. The Würzburg bishop also had new residential buildings built for the monks and the ruins of the old ones removed. At the same time, the Münsterschwarzach monks received confirmation of their privileges. Despite this support, Würzburg demanded complete subordination to episcopal suzerainty, which was by no means recognized by all monks.
After Alapold's death, the monastery was headed by three other abbots, who had probably been selected by the bishop in accordance with the Old Gorz reform. Abbot Heribert failed even before his confirmation because of the resistance of the monks; he was primarily concerned with promoting the liturgy. His successor Walther I , in turn, had to deal with the growing local nobility, who made claims to the monastery property. During his government raged in Münsterschwarzach the plague , after the Convention was nothing but six monks.
At the time of Abbot Walther, however, the religious center of the monastery, the monastery church, began to be rebuilt. The Carolingian church was probably destroyed during the 10th century. In 1023 the Würzburg bishop Meginhard consecrated the new monastery church, which was now named "Walther Church" after the initiator. After the new building, the church presented itself as a three-aisled column basilica .
The last abbot who implemented Lorraine reforms in Münsterschwarzach was Wolfher. Similar to his predecessors, he considered the connections to other reform monasteries to be very important and established prayer fraternities with Amorbach and Fulda . At the same time he was politically active and tried at the Frankfurt Synod on September 24, 1027 for the granting of lost rights. Under Abbot Wolfher, the abbey flourished for the first time, which also had an impact on the expansion of the monastery as an institution.
Art and politics under Abbot Wolfher
This was also due to the fact that Wolfher began to write books for the monastery library and to set up his own office . A church history soon appeared, which dealt with the time of the Saxon kings up to the end of the Salians in the form of a world chronicle . The surviving remains of the manuscripts from the time of Abbot Wolfher are now kept in many large libraries, including in Yale and Cape Town . The growing importance of Münsterschwarzach was also supported by increasing numbers of monks. In 1039 the monastery already had 39 monks, who by no means all agreed with the political decisions of their abbot.
At the beginning of the 11th century, an influential sculptor's workshop was established in Münsterschwarzach, which was influenced by the Regensburg monks of St. Emmeram . Your most important, preserved work was the sandstone relief in the church in Großbirkach . Originally, the work, the oldest Romanesque sculpture in Franconia, was interpreted as a so-called pagan baptism and associated with the mission of the Slavic Wends in the 9th century. Recent research suggests that the relief served an important political purpose for the 11th century.
Already with the deed of donation of the Dracholf the monastery property of Münsterschwarzach was oriented towards the east towards the Steigerwald . In the 11th century the abbey tried to regain a foothold in the long neglected region. In addition, Abbot Wolfher had the Großbirkach relief made as a legal mark , which should always remind the abbey's interest people of their duties towards the convent. An inscription also mentions “Wolfherus Abbas” as the initiator.
In contrast, the so-called Dimbach crucifixion relief is less important , although it also comes from the sculptor's workshop in Münsterschwarzach. The relief was probably originally made for the facade of the monastery church, on which Wolfher continued to build. During Wolfher's time, on September 8, 1034, a Benedictine chapel was inaugurated on the monastery grounds by Bishop Bruno of Würzburg .
By fixing the consecration on September 8th, Wolfher brought a tradition into being that was followed by all churches in Münsterschwarzach from then on. The day of consecration was always the Sunday after September 8th. The relics of the holy martyr Felizitas are also closely connected with Abbot Wolfher . The abbot had his own shrine made for her head and established the veneration of Munster black wax as the "Felizitasabbey". However , the saint never became the patroness of the monastery.
"Schwarzacher Reform" under Egbert
The biography of Abbot Wolfher was also associated with destruction and catastrophes by monastery chroniclers from later times, probably mainly to make the second bloom of the abbey in the 11th century appear more significant. Adalbero von Lambach was elected Bishop of Würzburg during Wolfher's tenure . The bishop quickly came up with the plan to turn his Münsterschwarzach monastery into a "model monastery" of the Junggorz reform.
To this end, Adalbero called the monk Egbert directly from the French Gorze. Together with eight monks, Egbert reached the Main in 1047 and quickly began to implement the reform work. He put his special focus on the liturgy and especially choral singing , which was now practiced regularly again. Adalbero supported the new beginning by donating several goods that he gave to the monastery. Egbert quickly rose to the “right hand” of the bishop.
In addition to the liturgy, Egbert placed asceticism in the foreground of monastic life and promoted it. He introduced new customs from his home monastery in Münsterschwarzach. The monks received a new costume and a stricter daily routine. With the young reformers, more books came into the abbey. Egbert paid special attention to the veneration of the saints from Gorze. Henceforth the saints Columban , Gallus and Gorgonius were celebrated .
A Leutkirche was consecrated to the first two, which Egbert had built at the entrance to the monastery, probably on the site of today's gatehouse, and which was considered a focal point for the residents of the monastery settlement. At the same time, he also pushed ahead with the representative expansion of the monk's church. The nave was enlarged during the Abbatiat des Egbert. In 1074 or 1066 the new church, the now completed Walther Egbert basilica, could be inaugurated. → see also: Romanesque monastery church
Egbert had his own school built for the growing convent , which achieved great fame. He also established a hospital on the monastery grounds. The abbey also played a key role during the investiture controversy, as the Würzburg monastery was one of the few spiritual principalities that stood on the side of Pope Gregory VII . Egbert succeeded in lifting the excommunication of Bishop Hermann von Bamberg through a trip to Rome . Hermann stayed in Münsterschwarzach until his death.
Under the abbot, who was quickly revered as a salutary, Münsterschwarzach soon developed into a reform monastery, which allegedly gave the impetus for the renewal of 25 monasteries. St. Michael and St. Jakob in Bamberg were reformed , the Münsterschwarzach monks were appointed as abbot of St. Stephan in Würzburg and the St. Andreas abbeys in Würzburg and Neustadt am Main were promoted . The ideas reached Bremen via the Thuringian and Saxon regions, the Ilsenburg , Huysburg and Hillersleben monasteries . Egbert paid particular attention to the reform of the Austrian Lambach monastery , which is closely associated with the family of Bishop Adalbero.
The Junggorzer and the Hirsauer Reform
The four successors of Egbert continued his reform work. The reference to the Würzburg monastery was reinforced by the organization of a pilgrimage to Kilian to the grave of the Franconian Apostle , which reinforced the cult of the saint. The Münsterschwarzach Abbey acquired 183 valuable manuscripts under Abbot Burkard I. and added them to the monastery library. The abbot also wrote himself, so his term of office was also honored with great honor by his convent.
Abbot Altmann also continued to round off the library. Under him, four missals , three lectionaries , two sequence books and other works came to Münsterschwarzach, including Isidore's "liber etymologiarium". At the beginning of the 12th century, the abbey also housed Bishop Erlung von Würzburg , who had leprosy . As a thank you, he transferred the parish of Gerlachshausen and many of Count Heinrich von Castell's goods to the monks in 1115, which could be found in nearby Sommerach, among other places. In 1107, the founder of the monastery, Paulina , who fell ill on a trip and who also died in Schwarzach, was taken in.
The abbey received nationwide attention in 1121. At that time, the bishops of Mainz , Speyer and Worms elected Bishop Rugger to the Würzburg diocesan in the presence of a papal legate in Münsterschwarzach . He competed with the loyal counter-bishop Gebhard von Henneberg for the diocese and the bishopric. Rugger was never able to move into Würzburg as bishop, he died in 1125 in the safety of the monastery.
This security was threatened by the emergence of further epidemics inside the convent. Two abbots succumbed to the plague in the first half of the 12th century . Abbot Wolfram was the last to die, the so-called Junggorzer. In the meantime the Hirsau Monastery had risen to become the new center of monastery reform and the Würzburg bishop appointed the monk Dietrich, who came from there. Despite these efforts, the abbey remained shaped by the ideas of Egbert until the 13th century.
The miracles that occurred at the grave of the legendary abbot also contributed to this. As early as 1121 a deaf-mute was healed at the abbot's grave. As a result, a pompous grave was created for the abbot, which was placed in the center of the monastery church he had built and which, in addition to his bones, also contained the remains of the donor couple Megingaud and Imma as well as abbot Burkard I. Under Abbot Gozwin, the church was given a vestibule, the so-called " Paradise ". In addition, the construction of the cloister began.
The reputation of the Reform Abbey was of national importance, so that in 1189 Abbot Gottfried , together with three other prelates, were allowed to examine the miracles that occurred at the grave of the revered Bishop Otto von Bamberg . Gottfried finally announced the canonization. However, at the end of the 12th century, the old conflicts between the local nobility and the bishop broke out again. The reforms failed to remove the still prevailing noble privilege, so that the entire convent remained of noble descent.
Late Middle Ages
Castell and Münsterschwarzach
The late Middle Ages in Franconia is also associated with the rise of smaller aristocratic families who tried to establish their own domain. In the space between the Main and Steigerwald, the gentlemen von Castell stepped forward. From the 13th century they carried the title of Count and began to build up their own territory. It is noteworthy that many of their possessions and goods coincided with those of the now extinct Mattonen, which is why research constructed a cognatic relationship between the two noble families.
Without knowing the sources, the counts succeeded in gaining the bailiwick and thus military protection and patronage over the Münsterschwarzach Abbey, which strengthened their influence. However, they remained dependent on the more powerful Würzburg monastery, which the bailiwick generously gave the counts as a fief . After the death of Count Ludwig in 1228, however, there were armed conflicts between his brother Rupert II and the Würzburg bishops over the assignment of the bailiwick.
The Münsterschwarzach monastery was also affected, the buildings of which caught fire as a result of the fighting. In the end, the Counts of Castell had to renounce their claims to the monastery in 1230. However, the arguments did not end there. Together with the Hennebergers from the northern parts of the bishopric, the counts tried again in 1266 ( Cyriakus battle ) and 1282/1283 to oppose the prince-bishops of Würzburg. The abbey was also on fire twice.
Due to the frequent destruction in these decades, many sources on the history of the monastery in the late Middle Ages have also disappeared. The abbot list of the late Middle Ages is therefore uncertain and has been revised several times by research. Only Abbot Sifrid managed to repair the destruction in the late 13th century, to pay off the abbey's accumulated debts and even to acquire new rights. However, the convent broke up after his death in 1316.
Schismatic abbot elections
The majority of the monks of Münsterschwarzach elected Konrad I. Zobel as their headmaster in the abbot election that was due after the death of Sifrid . However, the chaplain Konrad also tried to gain authority over the monastery. First he made the elected Konrad I resigned . After the chaplain, who was now in office as Conrad II, was still referred to by the convent as "intrusus", i.e. an intruder, a conflict arose. Only the return of the abbot Konrad I led to the removal of the intruder.
The solidarity of the monastic community was also severely disturbed under the abbots who followed. Many monastery rulers squandered the monastery property and lived like secular nobles. It was only under Abbot Heinrich in 1335 that there was a brief return to spiritual matters, because he set up a provost's office in the monastery village of Dimbach. In contrast, Abbot Konrad III, who was probably a member of the noble family of Zollner von Hallburg, was appointed by Bishop Otto II of Würzburg and the monks were thus deprived of their voting rights.
At the beginning of the 15th century there was another schism. Konrad IV von Maienfels faced Albert Truchseß , both men were supported by parts of the convent. Only a papal commission chaired by Prague Archbishop Johann Očko von Wlašim resolved the dispute and appointed Conrad IV. However, this resolution, which was made without the involvement of the monks, did not resolve the deep disunity of the convent.
The problems emerged clearly in the next abbot election. Abbot Kraft von Buchheim called von Bieberehren was elected by the majority of the monks and held his office for a few years, but the opposing forces within the convent of Münsterschwarzach called a second abbot onto the scene at the beginning of the 15th century. Thereupon the monks asked the Würzburg bishop to confirm the now appointed counter-abbot Hildebrand Zollner .
The abbot Kraft, who was expelled from the monastery, got support from his diocesan Johann I von Egloffstein and returned to Münsterschwarzach with soldiers. As a compromise, the bishop provided the imposed abbot with an economist. It was not until 1409, after complaints about the administration of Kraft von Buchheim, that Kaspar von Schaumberg was enfeoffed with the abbey by a papal decree .
Approaches of the Chancellor Reform
Kaspar von Schaumberg acted like his predecessors and plundered the monastery property. This enrichment increased depressingly under Abbot Nikolaus I von Gleißenberg , the prelate used the monastery property to finance his lavish lifestyle. The monks wanted to counteract the decline of their abbey. However, the requests to the Würzburg bishop did not help, because he had to wage war against his own cathedral chapter and the townspeople in the diocese metropolis . It was not until 1444 that Gleißenberg was deposed and excommunicated because of his misconduct .
After this episode, Bishop Gottfried IV. Schenk von Limpurg saw the need to renew the Benedictine abbey. He brought monks from Fulda who, influenced by the Bohemian-Upper Palatinate Kastler Reform , were supposed to reform the convent of Münsterschwarzach. Abbot Johannes II. Wolf von Karsbach , who was not one of the newcomers, also tried to implement the reforms. He had the dormitory and the refectory of the monastery rebuilt. In addition to their experiences, the people of Fulda also brought many books with them to the Main.
Under John II, the principle of nobility, which had long hindered the staff renewal of the convent, was finally lifted. With the abolition, Münsterschwarzach experienced an increase in the number of conventuals. The lay brothers in particular grew larger . The high debts that had been piled up under Abbot Nicholas, however, did not succeed in paying off. The impulse from Fulda, Münsterschwarzach was the last monastery that had been reformed by the monks of St. Andrew's monastery, and only had an impact on the convent for a short time.
There was no organized merger of the Benedictine monasteries in the late Middle Ages, although the abbots swore at the Würzburg provincial chapter in 1451 to found one. Cardinal Nikolaus von Kues was responsible for this advance . Even under Abbot Ekkehard, reform approaches stalled. This was also due to the fact that in 1461 the so-called margrave war between the Würzburg bishop and the Ansbach margrave Albrecht Albrecht Achilles destroyed the buildings of the monastery that had just been renovated.
The Dimbach Provostry
Parallel to the developments in Münsterschwarzach that were marked during the 14th century by a general decline of monastic discipline, succeeded to the Convention of the Abbey in Dimbach a provost build. The monastery village of Dimbach was already away from the highways in the late Middle Ages. However, the miraculous image of a Pietà , which was considered miraculous, repeatedly drew pilgrims to this remote place.
The abbots of Münsterschwarzach tried to increase the number of visitors. Despite the disputes within the convent, Abbot John I succeeded in building a new church, which was 35 meters long and huge. The efforts for the ambitious place of pilgrimage were again intensified under Abbot Heinrich. Next to the church he set up a permanent settlement for monks from Münsterschwarzach, the so-called provost office.
It was not until 1351 that the church was officially elevated to the status of a provost by Bishop Albrecht von Würzburg . The Dimbach Propstei became a political instrument for the mother monastery in the following decades. The abbots rewarded deserving monks with the award of the provost's post, and at times they also quartered monks tired of life or unruly monks. In the 15th century, the provost's office served as a retirement home for the abbots of the monastery for a while. The deposed abbot Hildebrand Zollner was compensated with the provost office.
However, the pilgrimage to Dimbach did not develop as the abbots of Münsterschwarzach had expected. Only the monastery villages came to the place of worship in processions ; a real pilgrimage with a supraregional influx could not develop. In addition, Dimbach was devastated during the Margrave War and most of the buildings were destroyed. The provost's office was dissolved between 1470 and 1493 under Abbot Martin.
Denominational age
The Bursfeld Congregation
Abbot Martin from the St. Egid Monastery in Nuremberg was the first non-aristocratic ruler of Münsterschwarzach. He tried to continue the reforms that had been started under Abbot John II. Based on the Reformed Bursfelde Abbey near Göttingen, the Benedictine monasteries in the Holy Roman Empire had now merged. On August 24, 1473, the abbot, his prior Michael and the convent sent a formal request for membership to the federal government. The abbey only became part of the Bursfeld Congregation in 1480.
The monastery association was run tightly. The implementation of the reforms in the individual monasteries was checked in annual visitations . In addition to the economic condition of the respective convent, the focus was also on the spiritual constitution. The individual monasteries lost some of their autonomy because the visitors were allowed to radically intervene in the internal affairs of the abbeys. They valued a long choir prayer and the inner seclusion of the convents.
The diet of the monks was also put to the test. The strict fasting requirement was implemented by creating a fish pond between Stadelschwarzach and Eichfeld . The Peterskloster in Erfurt as an important pillar for the implementation of the reform sent the monk Johann von Konstanz as prior to the Main after 1481 . Abbot Martin tried to get the economy of Münsterschwarzach going again and took out the sum of 18,000 guilders as a loan. With the money he also rebuilt the monastery walls.
Abbot Martin personally took part in the general chapters of the new monastery federation in 1480, 1481 and 1491 and was ultimately even appointed a visitor to the Franconian abbeys. However, the reform of the monastery also experienced setbacks. The “causas monasterii in Swartsack” was the topic of the General Chapter of the Federation in 1485. During a visitation in 1487, serious deficiencies were discovered and Bishop Rudolf II von Scherenberg ordered the implementation of the orders.
Under Martin's successor, Abbot Michael , complaints about the abbey to the congregation increased. The monastery was visited in 1501 and 1502. Since Abbot Michael accumulated further debts and sold monastery goods again, the abbots of Sponheim , Seligenstadt and St. Stephan in Würzburg announced in 1503 that they would make another visitation. Thereupon Michael resigned from his office as abbot. The subsequent election of Abbot Paul was made under the eyes of Bishop Lorenz von Bibra and the visitors.
After Paul succumbed to syphilis after just two years , the monks again voted. However, the Convention was still deeply divided, so that ultimately three candidates received the same number of votes. The monks turned to the bishop of Würzburg, who sent Georg Wolfsbach from the St. Stephan monastery in Würzburg to Münsterschwarzach. Wolfsbach was a good economist and stabilized the financial situation for the abbey. In addition, visitors to the congregation were received twice a year , with the newly elected abbot taking part in the chapters of the covenant himself.
German Peasants' War
Conditions and history
Already at the beginning of the 16th century there was rumbling in the population. The anger grew because of the increasing taxes on the landlords and the monks of Münsterschwarzach were also seen as part of the landlord's class. The abbey placed the mayor in the city of Schwarzach next to the monastery and administered a closed rulership complex through the monastic bailiwick, which included the places Gerlachshausen , Dimbach, Düllstadt , Stadelschwarzach , Reupelsdorf , Sommerach and Nordheim . In addition, the convent had landlord rights in 30 other places in the area.
In Franconia, at the beginning of the 16th century, an average of 30 to 40% of the cultivated products had to be given to the respective landlord as taxes in kind or levies . In addition, other taxes and contributions added up to an oppressive tax burden. This led to problems, because in the years 1503, 1505, 1515 and 1517-1524 to crop failures came. In addition, the abbots who ruled in previous centuries, who enriched themselves with their subjects , strained the relationship between the convent and the population.
The Reformation initiated by Martin Luther , which began in 1517, had an impact not only in the area of the abbey . The doctrine of the Reformation quickly gained a foothold in the Würzburg monastery. However, exact studies of Luther's followers in the abbey territory are not available. In any case, the neighboring cities of Dettelbach and Volkach were referred to as the “hot spots” of the new teaching. Both developments, oppressive tax burden and new doctrine, together triggered the German Peasants' War as an uprising of the lower classes of the population.
As early as mid-April 1525, Abbot Georg Wolfsbach took the first precautions against the peasantry for his monastery. He wanted to recruit a protection team for the monastery grounds from the ranks of his rear passengers. The Sommeracher and Nordheimer farmers refused to send the men they had asked and warned the abbot. The citizens of Stadtschwarzach formulated two letters of appeal on April 18th. In it appeared the main goal of the townspeople: turning away from the monastery and subordinating themselves to episcopal power.
Events during the uprising
On April 24th, the abbot called his subjects to the abbey to ensure their loyalty . He tried to curb the rising anger by promising changes in the grievances and stressing the convention's guilt for the circumstances. With the express permission of the Würzburg bishop, the Hintersassen took the abbey on the same day. During the night there were riots, which can probably be attributed to the alcohol in the wine cellars.
The exact reasons for the capture of the abbey by the subjects are unclear. Probably they were pushed by the townspeople of the black city, who had expressed the most anger against the monks. The question of guilt remained unresolved even after the end of the war. One reason for the occupation of the abbey by the rear passengers could also have been the fear of having to share the expected "booty" with the advancing peasantry. The abbot fled with most of the monks to Gerlachshausen and later to the Egidienkloster in Nuremberg , while the Stadtschwarzacher appointed their mayor as the new "abbot".
On April 30, the farmers of the Rothenburg heap advanced from the direction of Iphofen to Münsterschwarzach. After they found the buildings already largely destroyed and looted, they set a fire again, which also set the Romanesque basilica in flames. The archive with the hated tax lists was now purposefully destroyed. The farmers also plundered the monastery area. In Stadelschwarzach the Zehnthof was destroyed, in Dimbach the buildings of the Propstei and in Reupelsdorf the castle burned down .
In the days that followed, the backs of Münsterschwarzach joined the peasants' Volkach flag and moved on with them. However, the Peasants' War was put down by the princes in mid-June 1525. Bishop Konrad II von Thüngen took a hard line against the ringleaders. Three men from Stadtschwarzach were executed as part of the reprisals. On June 24, 1525 the abbot and 15 monks were able to return to the Main. Abbot Georg made the subjects swear an oath of loyalty .
Turn away from Bursfelde
Abbot Georg Wolfsbach found the monastery largely destroyed. The monks could not move into the buildings within the monastery walls directly, but instead moved to the less affected rectory in Stadelschwarzach or Gerlachshausen. Immediately after his return, the abbot turned to the Bursfeld congregation, which had set up an aid fund for members in need . However, the Congregation did not reply, because many monasteries had suffered economic losses as a result of the Peasants' War.
The population in the monastery villages, who were now being looked after by the Münsterschwarzach monks, were also still hostile to the convent. Monks in religious clothes did not go out into the street. The political consequences of the uprising were also threatening to exist. The lower nobility in the bishopric of Würzburg now demanded the dissolution of the monasteries in order to pay off the bishop's debts, which had been accumulated during the Peasants' War.
The secularization of the monasteries initially failed, but the bishop, as sovereign, succeeded in gaining more power over the abbey. In 1528 the monks were able to move into the first buildings on the monastery grounds again. In 1531, the abbot sold the town of Schwarzach, which had previously been closely related to the monastery, to the bishop. The literature is divided as to whether the economic hardship played the main role in this sale or whether the insults in the peasant war came to fruition.
In 1535 Münsterschwarzach officially left the Bursfeld Congregation, and in the following years the bishops even made sure that the visitors of the monastery union no longer entered the abbey. However, the habits and customs lived on for a long time. By 1540, the steeples of the Walther Egbert Basilica were rebuilt and the cloister walls were built. On September 12, 1540, Abbot Nicholas II had the renovated church consecrated. At the same time, however, the profitable tithe from Dettelbach had to be sold.
The beginning of the confessional disputes in the Holy Roman Empire coincided with the regeneration phase of Munster Blackach from the destruction in the Peasants' War. In 1546 Lutheran soldiers looted the monastery property in the Schmalkaldic War . The newly equipped church was also robbed. The convent fled to Würzburg to the St. Stephan monastery. The newly created damage could quickly be repaired.
Existential crisis due to the Reformation
With the election of Leonhard Gnetzamer as abbot, the monastery historiography connects a renewed decline of the abbey, which this time is mainly explained by the interior of the convent. However, the term of office of Abbot Leonhard began with the outbreak of the Second Margrave War , which interrupted the economic development work. On June 13, 1553, the margrave's battle of retreat took place near the monastery with the battle of Schwarzach .
| Convention strength | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| year | Professed | ||||||
| 1535 | 12 | ||||||
| 1544 | 9 | ||||||
| 1551 | 7th | ||||||
However, the decline of the “monastic discipline”, which was also reinforced by the abbot himself, weighed more heavily. Abbot Leonhard caroused and thus nurtured prejudices about the corrupt monk class in the public. With the beginning of the Reformation there was also a lack of monastic offspring, so that between 1525 and 1534 not a single monk was consecrated. The competent authorities of the Hochstift did without visitations and merely increased the monastery's financial obligations, which continued to bleed as a result.
Since the days of Abbot Egbert, a schoolmaster took over the training of the newcomers. The school in Münsterschwarzach continued to exist during the Reformation, in 1556 a Paul Koberer from Kronach was attested as a schoolmaster. However, the sources are silent about the quality of this training. Unlike in Neustadt am Main or Theres , the Lutheran teaching in the convent of Münsterschwarzach, probably also due to the existence of a schoolmaster, met with only a weak response.
Nonetheless, monks repeatedly left their monastery in the 16th century. Only in the case of Caspar Suffan (Suppan) can it be proven that this was due to the acceptance of Lutheran teaching. The number of resignations increased when Abbot Leonhard Gnetzamer took office, which is also due to the leadership of the convent. It was not until 1556 that the abbot and his convent became estranged, so that the monks asked Bishop Melchior Zobel for a visit. Gnetzamer resigned on June 20, 1556.
Catholic reform under John IV.
Just three days later the monks chose his successor Wolfgang Zobel . Zobel put the administration of the monastery on a new footing. To this end, he appointed his prior Johannes Burckhardt as administrator and only took care of the spiritual duties and the internal connections of the convent. The stricter course initially led to the resignation of some candidates who had received their minor orders in 1562 . Under Zobel's direction, the abbey's high debts were also paid off.
After the death of Wolfgang Zobel on May 16, 1563, the monks elected Prior Johannes Burckhardt, who was only twenty-six years old, as his successor as Abbot. Johannes IV. Burckhardt was in charge of the abbey for a total of 34 years while the Catholic Reform was beginning , the so - called Counter - Reformation . Abbot John IV is also the first ruler of Münsterschwarzach, whose family history and origin can be described in detail through historical sources.
| Convention strength | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| year | Professed | ||||||
| 1563 | 9 | ||||||
| 1581 | 12 | ||||||
| 1598 | 17th | ||||||
Burckhardt came to the abbey at the age of ten and rose quickly within the small convent. He was ordained a priest at the age of 17. The abbot exemplified interdenominational tolerance, his brother Georg worked as a Protestant professor in Tübingen . Nonetheless, Burckhardt began to force the re-Catholicization of the population in the monastery area, especially in Gerlachshausen he succeeded in doing this comprehensively.
By 1581 the debts of the abbey had been paid off and John IV began to buy new goods for his monastery. He thus laid the foundation for the closed territory of the abbey, which consisted of a total of seven real monastery villages and several other estates. This area was only smashed through secularization. In the monastery village of Sommerach, the abbot and the convent even managed to set up a charity foundation.
Johannes IV. Burckhardt was also concerned with the spiritual reform within the monks' convent. At the center of its renewal was the choir prayer, which was to remind the monks of their daily fulfillment of their duties. Which was daily Mass celebrated weekly held Burckhardt a spiritual approach to his monks. A visitation initiated by the Würzburg prince-bishop Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn in 1583 remained without objections from the administration.
Bishop Echter made Abbot Johannes an important component of his reform policy, which covered the entire bishopric. One after the other, the abbot was made head of Banz and St. Stephan in Würzburg. In Münsterschwarzach, Burckhardt also took on the training of the next generation. The re-establishment of the University of Würzburg made it possible for many professed to study in the nearby metropolis. For the monastery abbot Johannes had to buy a globe, to increase the library and destroyed in the Peasant War Salbücher reword.
The prelate's death did not put an end to the reform efforts that had begun because his successors were also shaped by the Catholic reform. Abbot Johannes V. Krug had a new official apartment built for the incumbent abbot, while John IV lived in a poor hut. During his term of office the parish church in Schwarzenau was inaugurated, which from then on was looked after by monks from Münsterschwarzach. It was only with the beginning of the Thirty Years' War that renewal came to a standstill.
Thirty Years' War
The first ten years of the war
As recently as 1618, the war did not have a direct impact on the abbey. The abbot inaugurated the so-called Echterturm of the Aegidius Church in Gerlachshausen, which with its pointed helmet testified to the efforts for the Counter Reformation. However, inflation was driven up by the armed conflicts in the following years , so that the monastery became impoverished. In addition, Bishop Johann Gottfried I von Aschhausen had taxes increased by 100%.
The war first had direct effects on the abbey and its surrounding area in 1622. At that time, foreign soldiers, Poles, Hungarians and Croats roamed through Main Franconia and devastated the settlements to get food. It was irrelevant whether the armies followed Protestant military leaders or went for the Catholic emperor. The soldiers in particular took the golden vessels of the parish churches that were used in the liturgy and melted them down.
A food shortage quickly arose, which was caused by the constant marching through. This was reinforced by a crop failure , by a hailstorm had been triggered. The abbot John VI. Martin had to buy groceries for the first time in 1622. At the same time he tried to protect his convent by buying two cannons and a hundredweight of gunpowder. The gates were guarded from then on, and guards patrolled the towers of the monastery wall.
From 1625 the supply situation came to a head. This also contributed that Abbot John VI. lived in splendor and gave many gifts to foreign messengers and couriers that the abbey lacked. Abbot Johannes often stayed outside of Münsterschwarzach because he wanted to treat his compromised health with expensive cures. In 1626 the entire harvest was destroyed by frost, and the constant campaigns aggravated the emergency situation even more.
The result was an internal split in the Münsterschwarzach convent. The monks, who blamed the abbot for all the misfortunes, openly rebelled against their ruler in 1627. The Würzburg Bishop Philipp Adolf von Ehrenberg then set up a commission to review the discrepancies. Abbot John VI. was finally retired and the bishop appointed William Ogilbay, the head of the Würzburg Schottenkloster as interim head.
Swedish conquest
Under pressure from the diocesan, the monks elected Johannes Kassian Speiser as their new abbot in August 1628. Speiser began to pay off the high debts in 1629. Despite the war and the poor economic situation, he managed to mine 4,000 guilders . In 1630 the abbot had a rosary brotherhood founded in the monastery town of Dimbach , whose central meeting place was the church of Maria de Rosario . In this way, Johannes Kassian promoted popular piety in the area that was subordinate to the monastery.
The promising approaches were abruptly interrupted in 1631. The Protestant Swedes under their King Gustav II Adolf had advanced as far as Würzburg and took the metropolis of the diocese after a siege. The conquerors began to place the land areas of the bishopric under their administration. Abbot Johannes Kassian fled to Tyrol shortly after the capture of Würzburg, and the convent quickly dispersed.
The Swedes centralized the administration of the Hochstift, Münsterschwarzach was subordinate to the main team Gerolzhofen . The monastery and its goods were placed under a Swedish administrator. The Saxon Simon Jäger received 140 guilders as an annual salary from the government and began to exploit the monastery to divert additional funds. The subjects in the monastery villages meanwhile devastated the manorial buildings and began to cut wood in the monastery forest between Gerlachshausen and Sommerach.
On June 10, 1633, the Swedish king handed over the dissolved bishopric as the Duchy of Franconia to the merited generals Ernst and Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar . The dukes planned longer with their new areas and also appointed a new monastery administrator. Lucas Böhm (also Beheimb, Behem, Behm) came from Rothenburg ob der Tauber and was more forward-looking. Even the Catholic chroniclers of the abbey praised the work of the Lutheran administrator.
At that time, only two monks remained in the convent. Johannes Engel was tortured and finally revealed to the Swedes the hiding place for money that had been set up in the crypt below the monastery church. In 1634 Abbot Johannes Kassian sent a subordinate from his exile to the Main. He reported that the abbey was a shelter for soldiers from both camps and that the vineyards were not cultivated. The news to the abbot was exaggerated, however, upon their return the monks found the abbey buildings intact and the accounts books had also been kept by the interim government in their absence.
The monastery villages themselves were hit differently by the effects of the war. Although the large villages of Nordheim, Sommerach and Stadelschwarzach were still intact in 1634, the smaller settlements suffered much more from the constant threat of war. At the end of the war, Dimbach, Düllstadt and Reupelsdorf were completely abandoned and the fields were no longer cultivated. The population in the abbey area was thinned out and the villages were dependent on pure subsistence farming.
1634 to 1648
After the defeat of the Swedish army in the battle of Nördlingen in November 1634, the abbot and his servants returned to Main Franconia, which was again placed under the rule of the prince-bishops. The war continued, however, and Johannes Kassian lodged himself in the Schottenkloster in the Würzburg Mainviertel , where he felt safer. The prelate had accumulated large debts in his exile, which the impoverished convent could no longer repay. Abbot Johannes Kassian died in Münsterschwarzach in 1640.
The new abbot Nicholas III. Molitor was chosen by a total of five monks. However, the abbot died shortly after his ordination and the new election that was now necessary put a financial burden on the convent. The new headman was Silvanus Speht , who as pastor had looked after the subjects in the monastery village of Nordheim. This form of funding was not uncommon in times of war. The monks of Münsterschwarzach lived from their income as pastors in the monastery towns.
In 1645, the Würzburg prince-bishop Johann Philipp von Schönborn tried to restore monastic discipline through a visitation. It became clear that the monks no longer lived in the monastery itself, but in the respective rectory. The monastery was the starting point for desperate people who hid their last belongings in the buildings. At the same time, however, new novices were always accepted . Classes at the monastery school were discontinued and the monastery library was largely destroyed, with the most valuable volumes being buried at the beginning of the war.
After the early death of the abbot Silvanus, the bishop himself appointed a suitable successor. He installed Remigius Winckel at the head of the monastery, who had already worked as Abbot of Sponheim in the Palatinate. He represented the small convent much more confidently than his predecessors. Abbot Remigius even managed to get a Swedish guard from General Wrangel for Münsterschwarzach in 1646 . Even in the year of peace in 1648, Münsterschwarzach remained threatened by enemy looting, which Abbot Remigius prevented with diplomatic skill.
Baroque and Enlightenment
Reconstruction after the war
After the proclamation of the Peace of Westphalia in October 1648, the monastery's economy fell to the ground. Abbot Remigius first tried to settle the abandoned villages in the abbey's sphere of control. To this end, he leased or sold the properties that his monastery owned in the individual places to migrating refugees . This planned resettlement program meant that every house in the area around the monastery was inhabited again until the 1650s.
The broken organization within the village communities was also put back on its feet. The places received monastic mayors again and elected new councilors. The village regulations, which had regulated the coexistence, were reactivated by the prelate. At the same time, people began again to hold court in the abbey. The monastic economy was also supported by the work of the abbot.
In addition, Abbot Remigius introduced new types of cattle and replenished the herd of sheep . In addition, the prelate rebuilt the monastery mill and repaired the overgrown fish ponds. In 1652 the still preserved gatehouse was completed, which the abbot had commissioned the architect Andreas Toniolus for 600 guilders. In the meantime the convent was filled again with monks who were sent to Würzburg to study at the behest of the bishops. When the abbot died, twelve monks lived in the monastery again.
His successor Benedict II. Weidenbusch , at the age of 22, was not even a priest at the beginning of his term of office and was therefore initially only appointed administrator by the bishop. Since the abbey and its subjects had good harvests in the second half of the 17th century, Weidenbusch was able to re-register the taxes to the monastery. This increase happened in consultation with the residents, because the Münsterschwarzach monks still served as priests and pastors in the places themselves.
Abbot Benedikt attached particular importance to the scientific training of his monks and had them study in Würzburg , but also in Salzburg , Cologne and Douai . Several members of the convention became respected men of science, such as the mathematician Gottfried Böhm and the philosophy professor Anselm Ambling. Weidenbusch also drafted new statutes, which were closely based on those of the Bursfeld congregation, even though Münsterschwarzach never again joined the monastery federation. In addition, he checked the inner steadfastness of the younger professed and consolidated the monastic discipline.
Promotion of viticulture
As early as 1666, the abbey's vineyards produced a wine of the century for the first time in decades in terms of quality and quantity. The location of Münsterschwarzach on the edge of the Volkacher Mainschleife , which has been the center of Franconian viticulture since the early Middle Ages, played a major role in the convent's economy. After the Thirty Years' War there was a real boom in viticulture, from which the monastery also profited.
The successor of Benedict II. Weidenbusch, Abbot Plazidus I. Büchs , was then able to largely repay the monastery’s debts and put the monastery’s (wine) economy on a new footing. In 1674, Büchs managed to take care of the Elector Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg , who was in the abbey area and who had to feed 1000 soldiers. The stored wine of the century was also served. Further good harvests in the 1670s encouraged the flourishing of monastic life.
The wine was used in many ways by the monks. For one thing, it was a table drink; beer was only used in an emergency . On the other hand, he was used for alms donations . Wine was also indispensable for the liturgy. Wine was used as a means of payment or high profits were made from the sale of wine. The monks of Münsterschwarzach grew their own wine and profited from their free float in various climatic areas, which extended to Kirchschönbach in the Steigerwald foreland.
| Prices for 1 load of wine | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| year | price | ||||||
| 1684 | 400 imperials (480 guilders ) | ||||||
| 1688 | 135 imperials (162 guilders) | ||||||
| 1693 | 300 imperials (360 guilders) | ||||||
| 1695 | 24 imperials (28.8 guilders) | ||||||
In addition, wine was obtained from the monastery villages by collecting taxes in kind. The two pure wine-growing towns of Nordheim and Sommerach, which had to hand over the wine tithe to the monks during the harvest , were particularly taxed . The importance of the harvest for the abbey's economy is illustrated by the reports of abbots who stayed in the monastery towns during this time and supervised the harvest and the payment of taxes. In addition to taxes, a dense set of rules had been issued that regulated cultivation and harvesting.
In the 18th century under Abbot Plazidus Büchs, the tithe courtyards and cellars developed into real representative buildings that carried the wealth of the abbey to the outside world. In particular, the Zehnthöfe in Sommerach and Nordheim were expanded and rebuilt. The cellars for wine storage were also expanded, so that in 1688 a total of 361 loads of wine could be stored on a total area of 457 m² . In addition to the two large wine towns, the capacities in Münsterschwarzach itself had also been increased.
A fire that broke out in the monastery on October 18, 1677, and which killed several barns and a cattle shed, did not slow down the general upswing . The fire fell during the time of the novices' clothing , who nevertheless received their monastic robes . The topping-out ceremony was celebrated as early as June 1678, and the new barns of master builder Simon Urlaub were ready. In 1690 Abbot Plazidus began renovating the cloister . The measures formed the prelude to a renovation of the entire monastery area in the following decades.
Baroque monastery renovation
Already during the abbot's lifetime there had been conflicts within the monastic convent, which stemmed from a personal dissatisfaction with the selection of the monastery prior. After the death of Plazidus Büchs in 1691, Bishop Guttenberg sent several visitors to Münsterschwarzach under the Scottish Abbot Ambrosius. The abbot from abroad criticized the structural condition of the monastery church, which dates back to the 11th century, and then supervised the election of the new abbot and previous prior Augustin Voit .
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The baroque remodeling of the monastery buildings began under Voit . First he had the old Walther Egbert basilica renovated and fitted out with baroque altars. At the end of February 1696 the architect Valentino Pezzani appeared for the first time in connection with a new construction of the monastery buildings in Münsterschwarzach. At this early point in time it was probably unclear to what extent the renovations would affect the monastery, whether the monastery church itself had to be replaced. Initially, the architect worked on the guest building for the abbey.
The guest building, which was now closely connected to the cloister in the south of the church, was completed in two construction phases. Pezzani continued to build on the abbey buildings until 1701, at times as a general contractor . The result was an L-shaped building ensemble that consisted of a prelate building, cloister building and guest building. In particular, the mighty, three-story prelate building had a lasting impact on the monastery grounds.
Despite these reconstruction measures, the wars in the Holy Roman Empire continued to determine the abbots' politics. Due to the economic effects of the War of the Palatinate Succession, the subjects became impoverished and the abbot made money and grain donations. At the same time, studies for the novices were resumed in the monastery itself, with the emeritus Salzburg professor Father Heinrich Heinlein re-establishing the monastery 's own university. At the same time, the musician and composer Marianus Baal also worked in the convent.
The new building work was largely interrupted under Voit's successor Bernhard Reyder . Only after a visit in 1712 was it possible to win an architect from Bamberg , probably Johann Dientzenhofer , to draw up an overall plan for the redesign of Münsterschwarzach. In 1718 Abbot Januarius Schwab brought the Würzburg architect Joseph Greissing to the monastery. In the same year the choir of the Egbert basilica was torn down because the monastery church was now also included in the renovation work.
Greissing included the buildings of Pezzani in his considerations and finally completed the so-called triclinium of the monastery buildings by 1724/1725 . A large pavilion was added to the cloister building in Pezzanis, and the north wing was built to the east of the church. Its counterpart, the south wing, was also known as the "infirmary". The buildings were grouped around a courtyard of honor . The church and guest building remained to the west during this construction phase. Well -known artists such as Johann Adam Remele , Johann Bayerna and Johann Georg Nessfell could be won over for the interior decoration of the buildings .
It is unclear what plans Joseph Greissing had for the church. He died in 1721 and the convent finally decided to let his student Balthasar Neumann continue the construction work . The new monastery church received its foundation stone in 1727 , and on September 8, 1743, the building was finally inaugurated. Neumann built one of the highest sacred interiors in the Holy Roman Empire, with a 52 m high dome at the end. The church was furnished by the greatest artists of its time, with the “Adoration of the Magi” as an altarpiece by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo being one of the highlights. → see also: Baroque monastery church
The church was not the end of the construction phase. In 1743, a contract for the farm buildings was signed with Balthasar Neumann. Between 1744 and 1749 the "mill building", the baroque monastery mill , grew up. The imposing structure went into operation one year later. The front was never plastered because another war interrupted the construction work. During the Seven Years' War , the abbot Christophorus Balbus from neighboring Volkach had the abbey protected by 100 Austrian hussars . In the 1760s the abbey was sacked by the Prussians, who also took some monks hostage.
The last four abbots of the old monastery
At the end of the 18th century, the abbey experienced a final boom. The sources of this time were destroyed in the devastating air raid on Würzburg in 1945 , so that little information is available. The future abbot Sebastian Cönen gave lectures in theology in the middle of the construction site during the renovation work. Abbot Dominikus Otto experienced the emergence of the Enlightenment as a trend in intellectual history in the area of the abbey. The Enlightenment , which recruited representatives from the most varied of social classes, fought the monasteries because they attached importance to the old, class-style ways of life.
In Austria, Emperor Joseph II began to secularize monasteries on a large scale and to use the extensive estates for increasing government spending. In the Hochstift Würzburg, in which the bishops still ruled over the Münsterschwarzach Abbey, the convents were increasingly isolated. In the centuries before, the monks had already been forced to withdraw from the supra-regional associations. But this lacked the theological will for renewal, which had always come about through exchange with others.
With Ludwig Beck was from the 1770s to the Abbey before a man of science, the chair of Fulda canon law had held. However, the abbot did not worry about the urgently needed changes, but unilaterally promoted science. Concern for the monastery led to constant visitations by the bishop of Würzburg, in 1778 even the officials of the archbishop of Mainz came to Münsterschwarzach.
In order to stop the economic decline, Bishop Franz Ludwig von Erthal appointed Judas Thaddäus Sigerst , the former Cellerar and Beck's greatest competitor within the monastery , as " head steward ". Finally, in 1794, Sigerst himself became abbot. As early as 1793, during the First Coalition War, over 300 French soldiers had moved into the monastery church. In 1794 they defended themselves against the imperial troops who wanted to set up a hospital in the premises. From 1800 the annual marches, especially by French soldiers, continued to increase.
Modern times
Acquisition of the abbey in 1803
The economic power and influence of the abbey at the end of the 18th century are best compiled by the recordings of the special commission , which described the financial and financial situation in detail during the abolition of Münsterschwarzach. The main focus of the secularizers was on financial assets, but art treasures were also valued in order to be able to sell them later. The total value of the monastery property was 476,505 Gulden Rhenish and eight Kreuzer . Münsterschwarzach had annual income of 31,000 guilders.
It is noteworthy that a smoothly functioning monastery that had no debts in 1803 was dissolved. The real estate that existed in the monastery area and the surrounding area was added to the income . The abbey owned 699 and a half acres of arable land, 307 acres of meadows, several acres of vineyards, 15 lakes within the boundaries of the monastery and forest property of over 3,400 acres, which are in areas around Reupelsdorf (Lower and Upper Forest, Michelheidewald), Abtswind ( Friedrichsberg ), Dimbach ( Rindhof or Linkhoftännig ) and Großgressingen (Winkelhofer Forst) near Ebrach .
The buildings that belonged to the monastery were naturally concentrated behind the monastery walls. In addition to the monastery church, convent and guest houses, as well as the mill and the gatehouse, blacksmiths, barns, stables and servants' houses with their own barns are to be mentioned. Other monastery buildings in the places mostly served the administration of the economic goods. Tithe barns were in Reupelsdorf, Dimbach and Stadelschwarzach. The large tithe farms were to be found in Stadelschwarzach, Nordheim and Sommerach. In Düllstadt there was a so-called sheep house, i.e. a sheep farm .
Particularly important for the increased influence of the monastery on its subjects were the right and the just . The Vogtei owned Münsterschwarzach over all or almost all subjects in Dimbach, Düllstadt, Gerlachshausen, Klosterschwarzach (= Münsterschwarzach) , Neuses am Berg , Nordheim, Reupelsdorf, Sommerach, Stadelschwarzach and Untersambach . Only in Großlangheim was there power of disposal over a single house, in which in 1803 four people lived.
In addition, there was the right to hunt in the corridors of most monastery villages and around foliage , as well as extensive tithe rights, which brought the monastery in kind or money. In addition to the monastery villages, the wine tithing also came to the abbey from some houses in Escherndorf. The fruit tithe came from the Strehlhof near Rimbach , from Hörblach, Brünnau , Gräfenneuses and Herpersdorf near Bamberg, the grain tithe was raised by the monks in Hohenbirkach and Kleinbirkach near Ebrach, as well as in Kirchschönbach and Atzhausen . In addition, there were other tithe and Gülten, the so-called knight's tax, hand wages and certain corporal rights, which were concentrated on the monastery villages, but were also levied in other places in the Steigerwald and its foreland.
Secularization and abolition of the monastery
Conditions and history
Since the 18th century, ideas came up again and again in Enlightenment circles that had the complete dissolution of the monasteries and monasteries, as well as other spiritual entities in the Holy Roman Empire. The main focus was on handing over the monastery property to the emerging territorial states . It was only during the Napoleonic Wars at the beginning of the 19th century that these ideas became more concrete, the reorganization of Europe by Napoleon then brought about the implementation of extensive secularization .
With the Peace of Lunéville , signed on February 9, 1801, the states of the Holy Roman Empire renounced large areas to the left of the Rhine , which were added to France. With the Bavarian Palatinate, however, an ally of the French emperor also lost large areas. Therefore, they renegotiated and on August 24, 1801, they were able to agree on a guarantee for Bavaria's right bank. At the same time, the elector of Bavaria was offered the prospect of compensation in the spiritual areas north of his heartland. The Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of February 25, 1803 then sealed the fate of the clerical territories.
As early as September 3, 1802, Würzburg was occupied by Bavarian troops from the Short Palatinate. In December the civilian occupation took place. The abbot of Münsterschwarzach, Judas Thaddäus Sigerst, had already expressed concern about the impending expropriation of the monastery in a letter to the clergy in October 1802. On November 21, 1802, he first visited the General Commissioner Baron Johann Wilhelm von Hompesch zu Bolheim , who was appointed by Bavaria and asked him to inspect the monastery budget.
On December 8, 1802, the representatives of the new government appeared in Münsterschwarzach and swore the monastery servants and the convent to the new government. At the same time she read aloud the seizure patent and the monastery treasury, the archive, the cellars and granaries be left open. All rooms were placed under seal , the same happened with the Zehnthöfe in the monastery villages. A comprehensive inventory of the monastery property was now carried out.
The abolition of the monastery
The plans for secularization were concretized in the last days of 1802. On December 27th, a special commission was set up, which should be responsible for the "administrative matters of the monasteries and monasteries ". In the meantime, Abbot Judas Thaddäus Sigerst fulfilled the requirements of the responsible persons and created a tabular list of the monastery property. A first step towards the dissolution took place on January 21, 1803, when the four chornovices had to leave the monastery by order of the government.
Thereupon the abbot and the convent changed their approach and, in a letter to the general commissioner in Würzburg on February 8, 1803, spoke out in favor of the dissolution of their monastery. Several reasons are likely to be responsible for this decision. On the one hand, it was feared that Münsterschwarzach would be converted into a so-called central monastery, which would result from the forced amalgamation of several convents. On the other hand, they wanted to accept the inevitable and make provisions for the time after the monastery was dissolved.
The monks' requests for pensions , which were to be financed from the abbey properties, were passed on to the special commission in February. On February 16, 1803, court and government councilor Kleinschrod stayed in Münsterschwarzach. Up until March 24th, the number of employees and assets were recorded in detail. On March 30, Abbot Judas Thaddäus asked for his pension because he was offended by the behavior of the officials. At this point his request was not granted.
By April, the special commission received notification of the conditions in Münsterschwarzach through the official Kleinschrod. Then the actual exmission began , that is, the relocation of the monastery. On May 4, 1803, the Dettelbach official appeared local commissioner Stöhr in the abbey. At his behest the convention was called, the repeal opened and the seals removed. Most of the monastery staff were fired. Monastic life ended on May 7, 1803 and the monks were released into civilian life.
The monastery grounds in the 19th century
| Whereabouts of the convent | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surname | Death dates | ||||||
| Judas Thaddäus Sigerst | May 6, 1805 in Würzburg | ||||||
| Silvanus Michel | December 2, 1825 in Gerolzhofen | ||||||
| Martialis Michel | January 20, 1810 in Gerolzhofen | ||||||
| Felix pimple | October 16, 1804 in Münsterschwarzach | ||||||
| Bernhard Heger | December 10, 1805 in Münsterschwarzach | ||||||
| Boniface Brown | December 23, 1815 in Niederlauer | ||||||
| Benedikt Hammerschmidt | June 24, 1830 in Volkach | ||||||
| Columban Schull | April 5, 1817 in Nordheim am Main | ||||||
| Otto Weigand | March 29, 1812 in Stadelschwarzach | ||||||
| Erwin Fischer | May 31, 1818 in Kitzingen | ||||||
| Augustin Endres | May 19, 1817 in Reupelsdorf | ||||||
| Ambrosius Baumann | August 18, 1818 in Heidingsfeld | ||||||
| Anselm Lau | January 8, 1832 in Würzburg | ||||||
| Valentin Höfling | July 6, 1837 in Ochsenfurt | ||||||
| Dominikus Krapf | January 15, 1809 in Mönchstockheim | ||||||
| Januarius Walter | October 29, 1834 in Eibelstadt | ||||||
| Ludwig Ackermann | June 2, 1811 in Großlangheim | ||||||
| Joseph Papius | May 14, 1833 in Steinbach | ||||||
| Christoph Derleth | November 18, 1834 in Hassfurt | ||||||
| Adauctus Hubert | October 11, 1821 in Würzburg | ||||||
| Alois Schäfer | March 6, 1853 in Dettelbach | ||||||
After the abbey was dissolved, the former conventuals were initially allowed to stay in the premises. However, the former monks had to pay the costs of the stay from the pensions they had now paid out. The pension itself was linked to the future behavior of the conventuals, so that the electoral government could continue to influence the former monastery residents. The abbot received an annual pension of 3,000 guilders and was allowed to temporarily live in the monastery, the monks were given pensions between 500 and 300 guilders.
The next step in the dissolution of the monastery property was connected with the auction of the abbey's art treasures. For this, the local commissioner from Dettelbach, Stöhr, was called in, who trained the administrator Brandt responsible for the auction. The announcement of the auction was published in several newspapers in order to increase the number of visitors. The sale was carried out on several individual dates between August 29 and December 12, 1803. On the last date, there were proceeds of over 7,310 Rhenish guilders.
After leasing the extensive monastery complex was out of the question, plans were soon made to sell the land and buildings. Initially, however, the residents of the village of Münsterschwarzach were each allocated two acres of arable land and one acre of meadows. In order not to overburden potential buyers financially, the monastery property was divided into twelve courtyards. In order to interest the public in the auction, dates were published in various advertisers .
The auction dates were set to March 14th and 21st and April 3rd, 1804. After these auctions did not produce the desired result, another auction was set on May 22, in which Jakob Hirsch's offer of 102,500 guilders remained the highest bid. In the following weeks they tried to get more, higher offers. Ultimately, the elector Maximilian IV decided on June 25, 1804 to auction again between Hirsch and the diplomat Wolfgang von Goldner . Hirsch then contacted the elector by letter and convinced him to accept his corrected offer of 104,500 guilders.
As early as July 12, 1804, the ownership of the abbey passed into the hands of Jakob Hirsch. After only ten months, however , the banker sold the site again. Now it came to the finance advisor Jakob Crellinger from Hanover , who sold it to the forest secretary Christian Friedrich Röllig from Schleusingen in 1808 . On August 10, 1812, Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne , Napoleon's former private secretary, acquired the former Münsterschwarzach monastery through an intermediary .
It was not until 1824 that Bourrienne sold the facility. This time two owners bought the extensive complex: Ernst Friedrich Bause from Kitzingen and Joel Jakob von Hirsch , the son of Jakob Hirsch. Until 1827, however, most of the property passed into the sole hands of the Bause family. Via Baus’s daughter, Mathilde, the estate came to her husband Konrad Alexander Thieme, who ran it from 1850 to 1852. Then the banker Felix Vornberger took over the facility until 1894. Theodor Wilhelm Arens and Joseph Pfaff from Königstein im Taunus followed as owners. Friedrich Gottfried Cost, the last secular owner, owned the former monastery from 1907.
While the owners frequently changed, individual buildings were used very differently. Between 1828 and 1894, the third paper mill in Germany, operated by Friedrich Koenig from Oberzell , existed in the premises of the monastery mill and some ancillary buildings . The paper mill was not shut down until 1894. However, the new owners did not find any further use for the huge monastery church. A lightning strike in 1810 sealed their fate and in 1841 the church had given way to a field. → see also: Klostermühle (Münsterschwarzach) and decay of the monastery church
The Mission Benedictines in St. Ludwig
In the second half of the 19th century, life returned to some of the monastery grounds abandoned by secularization. In the former Benedictine monastery Reichenbach am Regen , the monk Andreas Amrhein from the Beuron monastery founded a mission center in 1884 , which was supposed to prepare for missionary work outside of Europe. Later the young community moved to Emming am Ammersee and succeeded under the name of Mission Benedictine of St. Ottilien in 1896 by Pope Leo XIII. to be raised to a priory.
The colonial ambitions of Germany, which also went hand in hand with increased missionary activities by the church, increased the influx of the young convent. Further branches were quickly established. The first subsidiary monastery was built in 1901 in the facilities of the former health resort Ludwigsbad, today a district of Wipfeld , which was about 14 kilometers from Münsterschwarzach. Here young monks were prepared for missionary work, so that a boarding school was soon set up.
The change in use of the area was also reflected in the new name, because the place was now called St. Ludwig . In 1906 the mother monastery of St. Ottilien , which had meanwhile become an abbey, raised its St. Ludwig branch to a priory. A year later, the foundation stone was laid for a large church building that was to form the center of the monastic community. Prior Plazidus Vogel played a leading role in the construction and later became the first abbot of the newly founded Münsterschwarzach.
In Münsterschwarzach, the former monastery area had meanwhile sunk into a pure estate . Most of the historic buildings had been torn down and the facility hardly made any profit, which is why it was often sold. At the same time, the Mission Benedictines from St. Ludwig were looking for suitable, agricultural land to feed their growing community. The idea quickly came up to buy this area with the former monastery in Münsterschwarzach.
From the monastery to the monastery
On July 31, 1913, ownership of the former monastery area passed to the community of the Missionary Benedictines of the St. Ludwig Priory . In the monastery historiography, the date was repeatedly associated with the re-establishment of monastic life, but at this point in time it was clear to everyone involved to acquire only one farm for the community in St. Ludwig. Several monks from the priory moved to Münsterschwarzach, with Basilius Konrad taking over the leadership as conventual.
On August 7, 1913, the monks celebrated the Eucharist for the first time on the site . At this point in time the idea was probably born to convert the former Benedictine abbey into a real monastery of the Missionary Benedictines. Until December 21st, the monks of St. Ludwig worked on the renovation of the 17th century gatehouse. A chapel was set up in the premises , which was open to both the monastery priests and the people of the area.
The plans, in particular, continue by Basilius Konrad and the Prior of St. Louis Plazidus birds were promoted were more concrete than on 24 December 1913, the old building only preserved, the so-called Pezzanibau that exam Castle received. The conversion of the estate into a monastery was also supported by the headquarters in St. Ottilien. The monks hoped to be raised to the rank of an independent congregation by the Pope through the establishment of several daughter monasteries.
That is why the estate was elevated to an abbey on April 1, 1914. The young community rushed to upgrade Münsterschwarzach, which for a long time did not look like a monastery at all. The backbone of the survey was the St. Ludwig monastery, where there were workshops and a boarding school. On April 16, 1914, Plazidus Vogel, the previous prior, was ordained as future abbot of Münsterschwarzach in St. Ludwig.
On September 14, 1914, the first novices were accepted who were to receive their training on the Münsterschwarzach monastery grounds. The young community's official move to Münsterschwarzach did not take place until September 22, 1914, with great public sympathy. By 1915, the former monastery mill, the so-called Balthasar Neumann factory, was converted into an apartment for the brothers. The First World War did not interrupt the establishment, instead the abbey bought a house in Würzburg and set up a boarding school for its novices here. Ten monks and eight novices died in the First World War and 16 others were wounded.
| Convention strength | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| year | priest | Lay brothers | |||||
| 1920 | 31 | 49 | |||||
| 1929 | 69 | 150 | |||||
| 1938 | 132 | 256 | |||||
In 1920 there were tensions within the convent due to the lack of buildings on site. Some wanted to give up the Münsterschwarzach site and move into another monastery instead. Eventually it was decided to stay. In the period that followed, the first new buildings were built. In 1921, Abbot Bishop Bonifaz Sauer von Wŏnsan inaugurated the new west building, in 1926 the convent was able to move into the new south wing, which had arisen from an extension of the old building in Pezzani. The remaining barns from the 17th century were converted into a ballroom and the mission museum until the 1930s .
Plans arose early on to build a new church on the site of the defunct Neumann basilica. The First World War, however, thwarted all plans for a "Peace Memorial Church ", which was also to emerge as a permanent memorial for peace. In 1921 the convent moved into a new emergency church , which has now been housed in the newly built western building. The tradition in which the monks saw themselves was made clear by the choice of the altarpiece. A copy of Tiepolo's “Adoration of the Magi”, which had been found in the old monastery church, was used.
It was not until the mid-1920s that the plans for the construction of a new monastery church became concrete. After extensive preliminary planning and an architects' competition , the monks decided in 1934 for the Munich architect Albert Boßlet . From 1935 to 1938 Boßlet built a three-aisled four-tower complex, which was planned as a hybrid between a medieval basilica and the more artificial version in the Baroque era. The characteristic towers with their height of 52 (east towers) and 38 m (west towers) changed the landscape of the Schwarzach basin permanently. With its consecration on September 11, 1938, the church became the landmark of the newly built Benedictine monastery. → see also: Modern monastery church
The monastery in National Socialism
Until it is repealed
The takeover of power by the National Socialists also changed everyday life in the monastery. At first, the convention was benevolent to indifferent towards the new rulers. A building board on the scaffolding of the Boßlet Church proves this, as it said: “We owe our permission to build here, we owe our Führer Adolf Hitler !” There were also similarities between the missionary work of the monks and the associated unequal treatment of people from other cultures the ideology of National Socialism. However, the “divine mission”, the all-encompassing and anti-church claim of the new movement also brought conflicts to light.
At first, the monasteries were only placed under surveillance, but in March 1933 an SA commando searched the abbey for weapons. The change of staff at the head of the abbey in 1937, however, took place without any problems. Abbot Plazidus II resigned from his position as abbot and the monks elected Burkhard Utz as their new head in great unity . In correspondence with the authorities, Utz often signed with the new linguistic formula " Heil Hitler !"
The first disputes with the representatives of the state occurred in the field of school education for seminarians. In 1934, the monastery schools in St. Ludwig and the St. Benedikt College in Würzburg introduced the subject of "National Education". The Abbey's Würzburg preparatory college took a more critical look at ideology from the start . The budding monks also appeared as a closed group in Würzburg itself. The National Socialist state tried to counteract this block formation through coercive measures. Among other things, this included compulsory labor service , which was in force from those born in 1915.
During this time, the long-established monks increasingly turned their gaze inward and began to explore the roots of their monastic community . Plazidus Vogel had already called himself the 67th abbot of Münsterschwarzach and thus placed himself in the tradition of his predecessors. At the same time, the mission outside of Europe was continuously expanded. To this end, efforts were made by the superiors of the Congregation of St. Ottilien to reform the liturgy of the monks.
The persecution by National Socialism intensified from 1937 onwards. The medals were now described as the "main means of power in Vatican politics" and labeled as opponents of renewal. In the course of the so-called " Waldbreitbacher Scandal", the National Socialists forced moral trials against church dignitaries. For the first time, the Gestapo also visited the monastery with an “investigative commission”. At the same time the communities began to be deprived of their economic basis and fundraising was restricted.
At the end of 1938, those responsible in Münsterschwarzach received the message that the two mission seminars of the abbey were to be gradually dismantled so that the missionaries could be trained in state educational institutions. As early as 1937, the years 1892 to 1912 were sampled in the monastery. In 1938 several monks from the monastery took part in the invasion of Austria by German troops. The monastic businesses lost important workers due to the increasing frequency of military drafts. At the same time, the missionary brothers in the USA had to reckon with their internment at the beginning of the war .
World War and the abolition of the monastery
From the end of August 1939, more monks were drafted into the military every day. On August 26th, eleven monks had to move into the barracks , on August 30th another eleven were called up before ten more monks were drafted on August 31st. By the end of 1939, 78 monks were under arms. At the end of 1940, 154 Münsterschwarzach Benedictines were serving in the military. In total, the Wehrmacht drafted 225 conventuals during the war. In addition, material and vehicles were confiscated.
| Favor numbers | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| year |
Fallen Conventuals |
||||||
| 1940 | 1 | ||||||
| 1941 | 6th | ||||||
| 1942 | 10 | ||||||
| 1943 | 11 | ||||||
| 1944 | 20th | ||||||
| 1945 | 8th | ||||||
The mood of the monks in the field fluctuated between worry and pride in the quick successes in the first years of the war. On May 29, 1940, the monastery superiors received the first information about the death of a monk. At the same time, people tried to maintain everyday life in Münsterschwarzach. As early as 1939, refugees , especially from the Pirmasens area , were also accommodated in the monastery premises. From November 22, 1940, Bessarabian Germans and people from Dobrudscha moved into the monastery, in which a “camp of the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle ” was set up.
Martial law now applied in Germany, which the National Socialists used to continue to take action against church institutions. The last school service was celebrated in St. Ludwig on March 18, 1940, after which the missionary seminar closed its doors. Now the rulers appeared more and more aggressive towards the community and occupied more and more buildings in the abbey. At the same time, action was taken against the “love work of St. Benedict” as a social aid organization within the monastery and the institution was banned in October 1940.
It was not until the spring of 1941 that the actual “ monastery tower ” began. Back in April 1941 sparked the Reich Security Main Office as a senior authority on SD and Gestapo , the branch Schweiklberg on, the monks were then picked up by their brothers in Münsterschwarzach. At this point in time, those in charge of the Franconian abbey suspected that the abolition was imminent and began to inform benefactors of their abbey in particular in an orchestrated action so as not to let the donations fall into the hands of the National Socialists. Father Sales Hess in particular stood out during these preparations and was later arrested for this and taken to the Dachau concentration camp .
On May 5, 1941, Gestapo officials came to the monastery and wanted to close the monastery on the pretext that the monks had allegedly diverted money. When the abbot was surprisingly ready to pay the sum of 300,000 marks , it was not canceled that day. The abbey was only searched by the Gestapo on May 8, 1941, and the SD head of the Main Franconia area , Fritz Glitz, had them searched for illegal writings that would serve as a further pretext for taking action against the monks.
Glitz had sent 30 officers to Münsterschwarzach, who quickly found themselves facing a demonstration by the local population. Since no orders were received from Berlin for a long time, the dissolution was not carried out on May 8th. It was not until May 9 that the squadrons of the police were able to occupy the abbey. Again protesters gathered at their gates. In the reading room of the monastery, there were dramatic scenes during the lifting, and there were also some injured monks.
Abbot Burkhard and some monks were taken to the Kreuzberg monastery on the mountain of the same name in the Rhön immediately after the abolition . A total of 50 brothers stayed in the monastery and had to maintain the farm, which was important for the war effort. The abbot later came to stay with the local Franciscan nuns in the Oberzell monastery, where a kind of "exile monastery" developed with visits from many monks. The National Socialists used the monastery buildings in Münsterschwarzach in a variety of ways. Shortly after the abolition, a reserve hospital was built in most of the rooms . The abbey had been placed under state administration, with over 70 conventuals of the former abbey still living in the premises at times.
The end of the war came for Münsterschwarzach and its abbey on April 10, 1945. The Americans were advancing from the Kitzinger Klosterforst with tanks and infantry. In the meantime, disregarding the hospital zone, around 50 Wehrmacht men had holed up at the sawmill and the village mills on the monastery grounds. Despite resistance, the Americans only refrained from using heavy weapons because they suspected American prisoners of war in the hospital. Therefore, the church and monastery remained largely undamaged, the Wehrmacht Association withdrew on the same day and the Americans converted Münsterschwarzach into the Military Hospital 406.
Post-war period and expansion
Abbot Burkhard, who was still in Oberzell Abbey with some monks, was able to leave his exile on April 16, 1945. As a symbolic act of the reoccupation of the abbey, he moved into the basilica through the church portal instead of entering the grounds through the monastery gate. Abbot Burkard quickly pushed for the reorganization of monastic life and was able to get the west wing converted into the new cloister area for the monks.
The lack of space in Münsterschwarzach was only one of the problems that arose for the community in the immediate post-war period . During the air raid on Würzburg on May 16, 1945, the religious house of St. Benedict was destroyed by flames, many monks were prisoners of war after the end of the war and in St. Ludwig one of the alternative quarters for the destroyed Würzburg Orthopedic Clinic was temporarily housed in the King Ludwig House . The hospital in Münsterschwarzach remained in existence until 1946.
Nonetheless, the reconstruction proceeded quickly. In 1946 a higher school was inaugurated on the premises in Münsterschwarzach for the first time , the predecessor of the Egbert grammar school that still exists today. Most of the boarding school and farm buildings of St. Benedikt in Würzburg were restored as early as 1947. Only the church building needed more time. From 1949, the buildings in Münsterschwarzach were added to the east wing, which created an inner courtyard between the church and the associated buildings.
The monks of Münsterschwarzach received a large increase in young aspirants in the post-war period. This was also due to her aura of being on the right side during the National Socialist rule. The body of the founding abbot Plazidus II, who died in exile in Lülsfeld , was quickly transferred to the monastery church. In 1955, further administrative buildings were built in the area of the monastery, on the site that had previously been occupied by the barns of Abbot Plazidus I. Büchs.
In 1959 Abbot Burkhard resigned from all his offices due to his advanced age. He died in June 1960. On June 12, the monks, Bonifaz Vogel, elected his successor. In 1961, under Boniface, the foundation stone was laid for a new missionary seminar. With its inauguration in 1967, the mother monastery of St. Ludwig near Wipfeld was finally given up and left to the Franciscan Sisters of Oberzell. The final abandonment of the mother house symbolizes the end of the reconstruction after the war.
After the 2nd Vatican Council
The external reconstruction and expansion of the abbey did not go hand in hand with internal renewal. After the end of the war, Abbot Burkhard confirmed the authoritarian constitution of the monastery, which was based on a strict hierarchical structure of its convent. However, resistance soon arose from the ranks of the young monks. In particular, they found the distinction between the studied monks and the brothers who practiced a trade to be superfluous. Above all, the brothers' right to have a say should be strengthened.
From the 1960s, the abbey also had to struggle with recruiting problems. To remedy this grievance, Abbot Boniface founded a seminar in Bamberg for those who were later called upon to work and had some monks expand a donation in northern Germany to what would later become the priory of St. Benedict in Damme in Lower Saxony. It was repealed in 2016. In 1971 the convent's own vocational school had to close for the brothers. With the Second Vatican Council , which was held between 1962 and 1965, the internal renewal of the community began.
At a general chapter in 1966, the Missionary Benedictines of St. Ottilien decided unanimously to abolish the distinction between monks and brothers. From then on all had the same rights and were called monks. In addition to a few other changes, such as the adjustment of the habit , the liturgy was also fundamentally changed. From then on, the monks sang their choir prayers in German, the translation of the Latin chant had been prepared in Münsterschwarzach and subsequently spread throughout Germany as the Münsterschwarzacher Psalter .
In the period that followed, the mission also changed fundamentally. Younger missionaries questioned the colonial views of their predecessors and began treating the local population as equals. Approaches changed quickly in pastoral care in Germany too. Therefore, the abbot had a guest house with single rooms built in Münsterschwarzach. In 1981 the school house was converted into a state-approved, private grammar school. → see also: Egbert-Gymnasium Münsterschwarzach
On October 1, 1982 Abbot Boniface announced his resignation to his confreres during the Liturgy of the Hours . Five weeks later, Fidelis Ruppert was elected as the new abbot. Michael Reepen has headed the Münsterschwarzach Abbey since 2006 . The monastery has now developed into an institution of the Catholic Church that is respected throughout Germany, which, in addition to the monastic operations, also forms a spiritual center far beyond the borders of Lower Franconia. With Willigis Jäger and Anselm Grün , only two important members of the Münsterschwarzach convent should be mentioned.
Sources and collections of sources
Unpublished sources
- Chronicon Minus Monasterii Suarzaha . o. O. o. J. Chronicle of the history of the abbey. Translation by Leo Trunk as a manuscript in the monastery library.
- Burkard Bausch : "Platanus exaltata ...". Monastery chronicle of Münsterschwarzach. 3 volumes . Münsterschwarzach 1698. Manuscript with chronicle covering the years 815 to 1654. Translation by Leo Trunk as a manuscript in the monastery library.
- Burkard Bausch: "Felizitas rediviva ...". New version of the monastery chronicle of Münsterschwarzach. 2 volumes . Münsterschwarzach 1720. Manuscript with chronicle covering the years 815 to 1720. Translation by Leo Trunk as a manuscript in the monastery library.
Published sources
- Chronicon Schwarzacense or Chronicon de fundatione monasterii Schwarzacensis . o. O. around 1590. Chronicle of the abbey from 800 to 1590. First published in: Johannes Petrus Ludewig : Volume secundum complectens Scriptores rerum Germanicarum . Frankfurt and Leipzig 1718. Columns 1–48. ( Digitized version )
- Magna Gloria antiquae et novissimae Domus Schwarzacensis a Magno Sacerdotio ... . Würzburg 1743. Festschrift for the consecration of the baroque monastery church. Translation by Sales Hess in the monastery library. ( Digitized version )
- Adelhard Kaspar: The sources on the history of the abbey Münsterschwarzach am Main. A contribution to the history of the Benedictine order in Franconia . St. Ottilien 1930.
literature
The literature on the Münsterschwarzach Abbey is diverse because, especially since the 20th century, all aspects of the monastic history have been dealt with within the convent itself. Therefore, most of the works used were created in the vicinity of the monastery and can be assigned to the monastery historiography. Because of its importance for the history of Franconia , articles about Münsterschwarzach can also be found in compilations that are related to Franconian history.
Comprehensive bibliographies of the literature about the abbey were published in the course of several anniversaries of the monastic community at the beginning of the 21st century. Next to the work of Mahr Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey , with its extensive selection of literature, should also be mentioned here in Büll's exhibition catalog 100 Years of Mission Benedictines in Franconia . Büll tries to create a bibliography by 2002.
Collective works
- Franziskus Büll (Ed.): Magna Gratulatio. 1200 years of Benedictine monastic community from Münsterschwarzach. 816–2016 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 55) . Münsterschwarzach 2016. ISBN 978-3-89680-899-8 .
- Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach abbey church. 1938–1988 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 41) . Münsterschwarzach 1992. ISBN 3-87868-453-3 .
- Adelhard Kaspar, Alfred Wendehorst (ed.): Studia Suarzacensia. Contributions to the history of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its resettlement (= Würzburg diocesan history sheets 25th vol.) . Münsterschwarzach 1963.
- Burkard Utz (Ed.): Münsterschwarzach Abbey. Works from their history. Official dedication of the church in 1938 . Münsterschwarzach 1938.
Articles and monographs
- Franziskus Büll: 100 years of the Mission Benedictines in Franconia. 1200 years of Münsterschwarzach. Booklet accompanying the exhibition in the Mission Museum of the Benedictine Abbey of Münsterschwarzach . Münsterschwarzach 2002. ISBN 3-87868-269-7 .
- Franziskus Büll: The importance of viticulture for the Benedictine abbey Münsterschwarzach . In: Jesko Graf zu Dohna, Andreas Otto Weber (Ed.): The history of Franconian viticulture. From the beginning to 1800 (= Franconia. Supplement to the yearbook for Franconian regional research supplement 4) . Munich 2012. pp. 171–201. ISBN 978-3-86222-028-1 .
- Franziskus Büll: The Monastery Suuarzaha. A contribution to the history of the Münsterschwarzach women's monastery from 788 (?) To 877 (?) (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien Vol. 42) . Münsterschwarzach 1992. ISBN 3-87868-454-1 .
- Jonathan Düring: We are only giving way to violence. The monks of Münsterschwarzach in the Third Reich. Two half-volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher studies vol. 45 / I and II) . Münsterschwarzach 1997. ISBN 3-87868-098-8 and ISBN 3-87868-099-6 .
- Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. ISBN 3-87868-174-7 .
- Patrick Melber: The abbey church at Münsterschwarzach. The main work of the architect Albert Boßlet (1880–1957) in the context of history. Two volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien Vol. 53) . Münsterschwarzach 2013. ISBN 978-3-89680-855-4 .
- Otto Meyer : State and class rule in the course of the centuries . In: Hellmut Kunstmann, Otto Meyer: Castell. State rule - castles - class rule . Castell 1979. pp. 9-51. ISBN 3-7686-9051-2 .
- Eleutherius Stellwag: The end of the old Münsterschwarzach. Edited and edited by Basilius Doppelfeld (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien Vol. 33) . Münsterschwarzach 1980. ISBN 3-87868-137-2 .
- Gabriel Vogt: On the early history of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey (= special print from Mainfränkisches Jahrbuch 32/1980) . Volkach 1980.
Web links
- Münsterschwarzach Abbey: history of the monastery
Individual evidence
- ^ Carl Wolff: On the foundation and history of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey in the Carolingian Age . In: Burkard Utz (ed.): Münsterschwarzach Abbey. Works from their history. Official dedication of the church in 1938 . Münsterschwarzach 1938. p. 217.
- ^ Gabriel Vogt: On the early history of the Münsterschwarzach abbey (= special print from Mainfränkisches Jahrbuch 32/1980) . Volkach 1980. p. 10.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 11.
- ^ Gabriel Vogt: On the early history of the Münsterschwarzach abbey (= special print from Mainfränkisches Jahrbuch 32/1980) . Volkach 1980. p. 12.
- ↑ a b Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 12.
- ^ Franziskus Büll: On the names and designations of the Münsterschwarzach monastery in the documents of the 9th and 10th centuries . In: Franziskus Büll (Ed.): Magna Gratulatio. 1200 years of Benedictine monastic community from Münsterschwarzach. 816–2016 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 55) . Münsterschwarzach 2016. p. 158.
- ^ Gabriel Vogt: On the early history of the Münsterschwarzach abbey (= special print from Mainfränkisches Jahrbuch 32/1980) . Volkach 1980. p. 16.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 13.
- ↑ Erwin Muth: The sandstone relief in Großbirkach and the early history of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey . In: Franziskus Büll (Ed.): Magna Gratulatio. 1200 years of Benedictine monastic community from Münsterschwarzach. 816–2016 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 55) . Münsterschwarzach 2016. p. 206.
- ↑ Erwin Muth: The sandstone relief in Großbirkach and the early history of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey . In: Franziskus Büll (Ed.): Magna Gratulatio. 1200 years of Benedictine monastic community from Münsterschwarzach. 816–2016 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 55) . Münsterschwarzach 2016. p. 195.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 14.
- ^ Gabriel Vogt: On the early history of the Münsterschwarzach abbey (= special print from Mainfränkisches Jahrbuch 32/1980) . Volkach 1980. p. 17.
- ↑ a b Gabriel Vogt: On the early history of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey (= special print from Mainfränkisches Jahrbuch 32/1980) . Volkach 1980. p. 19.
- ^ Franziskus Büll: Münsterschwarzach, place of extraordinary healings . In: Franziskus Büll (Ed.): Magna Gratulatio. 1200 years of Benedictine monastic community from Münsterschwarzach. 816–2016 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 55) . Münsterschwarzach 2016. p. 209.
- ↑ a b Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 19.
- ↑ Otto Meyer: State and class rule in the course of the centuries . In: Hellmut Kunstmann, Otto Meyer: Castell. State rule - castles - class rule . Castell 1979. p. 13.
- ↑ a b Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 20.
- ^ Josef Leinweber: On the reform of the Münsterschwarzach monastery and the chronology of its abbots in the 15th century . In: Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach abbey church. 1938–1988 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 41) . Münsterschwarzach 1992. p. 214.
- ^ Franziskus Büll: Münsterschwarzach and Dimbach - the monastery and its place of pilgrimage . In: Franziskus Büll (Ed.): Magna Gratulatio. 1200 years of Benedictine monastic community from Münsterschwarzach. 816–2016 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 55) . Münsterschwarzach 2016. p. 215.
- ↑ Elmar Hochholzer: The Münsterschwarzach Abbey in the Reformation . In: Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach abbey church. 1938–1988 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 41) . Münsterschwarzach 1992. p. 223.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 22.
- ↑ Elmar Hochholzer: The Münsterschwarzach Abbey in the Reformation . In: Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach abbey church. 1938–1988 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 41) . Münsterschwarzach 1992. p. 225.
- ↑ Elmar Hochholzer: The Münsterschwarzach Abbey in the Reformation . In: Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach abbey church. 1938–1988 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 41) . Münsterschwarzach 1992. p. 226.
- ↑ Elmar Hochholzer: The Münsterschwarzach Abbey in the Reformation . In: Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach abbey church. 1938–1988 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 41) . Münsterschwarzach 1992. p. 231.
- ↑ Elmar Hochholzer: The Münsterschwarzach Abbey in the Reformation . In: Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach abbey church. 1938–1988 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 41) . Münsterschwarzach 1992. p. 235.
- ↑ a b Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 24.
- ↑ Elmar Hochholzer: The Münsterschwarzach Abbey in the Reformation . In: Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach abbey church. 1938–1988 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 41) . Münsterschwarzach 1992. p. 248.
- ↑ Elmar Hochholzer: The Münsterschwarzach Abbey in the Reformation . In: Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach abbey church. 1938–1988 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 41) . Münsterschwarzach 1992. p. 249.
- ↑ Elmar Hochholzer: The Münsterschwarzach Abbey in the Reformation . In: Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach abbey church. 1938–1988 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 41) . Münsterschwarzach 1992. p. 261.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 25.
- ↑ Both tables. Elmar Hochholzer: The Münsterschwarzach Abbey during the Reformation . In: Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach abbey church. 1938–1988 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 41) . Münsterschwarzach 1992. p. 254.
- ↑ Elmar Hochholzer: The Münsterschwarzach Abbey in the Reformation . In: Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach abbey church. 1938–1988 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 41) . Münsterschwarzach 1992. p. 264.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 27.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 28.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 29.
- ↑ Walter Scherzer: Münsterschwarzach Monastery in the time of the Swedish and Saxon-Weimar interim government . In: Adelhard Kaspar, Alfred Wendehorst (Ed.): Studia Suarzacensia. Contributions to the history of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its resettlement (= Würzburg diocesan history sheets 25th vol.) . Münsterschwarzach 1963. p. 187.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 31.
- ↑ Walter Scherzer: Münsterschwarzach Monastery in the time of the Swedish and Saxon-Weimar interim government . In: Adelhard Kaspar, Alfred Wendehorst (Ed.): Studia Suarzacensia. Contributions to the history of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its resettlement (= Würzburg diocesan history sheets 25th vol.) . Münsterschwarzach 1963, p. 188.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 32.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 33.
- ^ Franziskus Büll: The importance of viticulture for the Benedictine abbey Münsterschwarzach . In: Jesko Graf zu Dohna, Andreas Otto Weber (Ed.): The history of Franconian viticulture. From the beginning to 1800 (= Franconia. Supplement to the yearbook for Franconian regional research supplement 4) . Munich 2012. p. 178.
- ^ Franziskus Büll: The importance of viticulture for the Benedictine abbey Münsterschwarzach . In: Jesko Graf zu Dohna, Andreas Otto Weber (Ed.): The history of Franconian viticulture. From the beginning to 1800 (= Franconia. Supplement to the yearbook for Franconian regional research supplement 4) . Munich 2012. p. 176 f.
- ^ Franziskus Büll: The importance of viticulture for the Benedictine abbey Münsterschwarzach . In: Jesko Graf zu Dohna, Andreas Otto Weber (Ed.): The history of Franconian viticulture. From the beginning to 1800 (= Franconia. Supplement to the yearbook for Franconian regional research supplement 4) . Munich 2012. p. 183.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 37.
- ↑ Erich Schneider: The new baroque building of the Münsterschwarzach monastery (1696-1725) . In: Franziskus Büll (Ed.): Magna Gratulatio. 1200 years of Benedictine monastic community from Münsterschwarzach. 816–2016 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 55) . Münsterschwarzach 2016. p. 255.
- ↑ Erich Schneider: The new baroque building of the Münsterschwarzach monastery (1696-1725) . In: Franziskus Büll (Ed.): Magna Gratulatio. 1200 years of Benedictine monastic community from Münsterschwarzach. 816–2016 (= Münsterschwarzacher studies, vol. 55) . Münsterschwarzach 2016. p. 273 (Schematic floor plan development).
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 56.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 61.
- ^ Eleutherius Stellwag: The end of the old Münsterschwarzach. Edited and edited by Basilius Doppelfeld (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien Vol. 33) . Münsterschwarzach 1980. p. 34.
- ^ Eleutherius Stellwag: The end of the old Münsterschwarzach. Edited and edited by Basilius Doppelfeld (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien Vol. 33) . Münsterschwarzach 1980. pp. 37-45.
- ^ Eleutherius Stellwag: The end of the old Münsterschwarzach. Edited and edited by Basilius Doppelfeld (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien Vol. 33) . Münsterschwarzach 1980. p. 71.
- ^ Eleutherius Stellwag: The end of the old Münsterschwarzach. Edited and edited by Basilius Doppelfeld (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien Vol. 33) . Münsterschwarzach 1980. pp. 92-98.
- ^ Eleutherius Stellwag: The end of the old Münsterschwarzach. Edited and edited by Basilius Doppelfeld (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien Vol. 33) . Münsterschwarzach 1980. p. 80.
- ^ Eleutherius Stellwag: The end of the old Münsterschwarzach. Edited and edited by Basilius Doppelfeld (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien Vol. 33) . Münsterschwarzach 1980, p. 88.
- ↑ Patrick Melber: The abbey church at Münsterschwarzach. The main work of the architect Albert Boßlet (1880–1957) in the context of history. Two volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien Vol. 53) . Münsterschwarzach 2013. Text volume. P. 108.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 65.
- ↑ Patrick Melber: The abbey church at Münsterschwarzach. The main work of the architect Albert Boßlet (1880–1957) in the context of history. Two volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien Vol. 53) . Münsterschwarzach 2013. Text volume. P. 112 f.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 66.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 71.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 69.
- ↑ Patrick Melber: The abbey church at Münsterschwarzach. The main work of the architect Albert Boßlet (1880–1957) in the context of history. Two volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien Vol. 53) . Münsterschwarzach 2013. Text volume. P. 353.
- ↑ Jonathan Düring: We only give way to violence. The monks of Münsterschwarzach in the Third Reich. Two half-volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher studies vol. 45 / I and II) . Münsterschwarzach 1997. Volume IS 55–66.
- ↑ Jonathan Düring: We only give way to violence. The monks of Münsterschwarzach in the Third Reich. Two half-volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher studies vol. 45 / I and II) . Münsterschwarzach 1997. Volume IS 94.
- ↑ Jonathan Düring: We only give way to violence. The monks of Münsterschwarzach in the Third Reich. Two half-volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher studies vol. 45 / I and II) . Münsterschwarzach 1997. Volume IS 136.
- ↑ Jonathan Düring: We only give way to violence. The monks of Münsterschwarzach in the Third Reich. Two half-volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher studies vol. 45 / I and II) . Münsterschwarzach 1997. Volume IS 178.
- ↑ Jonathan Düring: We only give way to violence. The monks of Münsterschwarzach in the Third Reich. Two half-volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher studies vol. 45 / I and II) . Münsterschwarzach 1997. Volume II. P. 325 f.
- ↑ Jonathan Düring: We only give way to violence. The monks of Münsterschwarzach in the Third Reich. Two half-volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher studies vol. 45 / I and II) . Münsterschwarzach 1997. Volume IS 192 f.
- ↑ Jonathan Düring: We only give way to violence. The monks of Münsterschwarzach in the Third Reich. Two half-volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher studies vol. 45 / I and II) . Münsterschwarzach 1997. Volume IS 267 f.
- ↑ Jonathan Düring: We only give way to violence. The monks of Münsterschwarzach in the Third Reich. Two half-volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher studies vol. 45 / I and II) . Münsterschwarzach 1997. Volume II. P. 319.
- ↑ Jonathan Düring: We only give way to violence. The monks of Münsterschwarzach in the Third Reich. Two half-volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher studies vol. 45 / I and II) . Münsterschwarzach 1997. Volume II. P. 209.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 74.
- ↑ Jonathan Düring: We only give way to violence. The monks of Münsterschwarzach in the Third Reich. Two half-volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher studies vol. 45 / I and II) . Münsterschwarzach 1997. Volume II. P. 236.
- ↑ Jonathan Düring: We only give way to violence. The monks of Münsterschwarzach in the Third Reich. Two half-volumes (= Münsterschwarzacher studies vol. 45 / I and II) . Münsterschwarzach 1997. Volume II. P. 223 u. 246.
- ^ Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey (= Münsterschwarzacher Studien, Vol. 49) . Münsterschwarzach 2002. p. 81.
- ^ Franziskus Büll: 100 Years Mission Benedictines in Franconia. 1200 years of Münsterschwarzach. Booklet accompanying the exhibition in the Mission Museum of the Benedictine Abbey of Münsterschwarzach . Münsterschwarzach 2002. pp. 53-64.